Over the weekend, there were reports that Ned Colletti and the Dodgers were nearing a blockbuster deal with the Cleveland Indians. There was some speculation that it consisted of Dodger starting first baseman James Loney and either Chad Billingsley or Clayton Kershaw to the Tribe for 1B/C Victor Martinez and reigning Cy Young winner Cliff Lee.

Let's start by saying that all parties have denied, denied, denied, but I think there is some potential here.

James Loney is a nice player. He's a slightly above average defensive first baseman, and he's batting .285 with 7 homers, 62rbi, .356 obp and a .788 ops. He's also very cheap, but approaching his arbitration years. But my sources indicate that there is absolutely no way - a 0% chance - that Colletti will part with either Billingsley or budding ace Kershaw. As Joe Torre says, there's no point making an acquisition if you "spring a leak" somewhere else.

Here's what works, but without creating a "leak." Loney is in play. He is never going to hit or power. He's fine, but 30 homers is a "pipe dream." So the package starts with him. Then you round out the offer with 2 propsects from this group: Class AA third baseman Josh Bell, Class AA outfielder Andrew Lambo,
Class AAA right-hander Josh Lindblom and Class AAA left-hander Scott
Elbert. "Maybe" you even think about including a guy like James MacDonald, who would be inserted right into Cleveland's starting rotation.

SP Cliff Lee22 starts - 7-9 record - 3.14 ERA - 1.30 WHIPFinal year of a 4yr - $15M contract, and there's a team option of $8M for 2010

Notice that both of these guys are under contract for 2010 for a combined $15M. That would be approximately the cost of Roy Halladay for next season.

That would mean that, in the playoffs, the Dodgers would start Lee in Game 1, Billingsley in Game 2 and Kershaw in Game 3 of a series. And, it would give them a starting lineup of Raffy Furcal, Orlando Hudson, Manny Ramirez, Victor Martinez, Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, Russ Martin and Matt Kemp.

That team would win the World Series!

Comments

What's wrong with standing pat. The Dodgers have the best team in baseball. Without Manny they were 10 games above .500. With them, they are a World Series contender. They need bullpen help, not starting pitching help or first base help. They can get a reliable set-up guy or seventh-inning guy for cheaper than Loney.

If the Dodgers want to get Lee AND Martinez without giving up Billingsley or Kershaw (would be stupid anyway, those guys are already awesome) then it would take Loney + McDonald and a few others from the top of the system (Martin, DeJesus, Lambo, Lindblom, Gordon, Elbert--probably 2-3 of those guys). THat seems pretty steep, but adding Lee and Martinez would make the Dodgers the easy World Series favorites.